Methods

Structured interviews on pregnancies fathered by MS patients gathered in the Italian
Pregnancy Dataset were collected; pregnancies were divided according to father exposure
or unexposure to DMD at time of procreation. Treatment were compared with multivariable
logistic and linear models.

Results

Seventy-eight pregnancies fathered by MS patients were tracked. Forty-five patients
were taking DMD at time of conception (39 beta-interferons, 6 glatiramer acetate),
while 33 pregnancies were unexposed to DMD. Seventy-five pregnancies ended in live-births,
44 in the exposed and 31 in the unexposed group. No significant differences between
the two groups were found in the risk of spontaneous abortion or malformations (p > 0.454),
mean gestational age (p = 0.513), frequency of cesarean delivery (p = 0.644), birth
weight (p = 0.821) and birth length (p = 0.649). In comparison with data of the Italian
general population, the proportion of spontaneous abortion and caesarean delivery
in exposed pregnancies fell within the estimates, while the proportion of pre-term
delivery in the exposed group was higher than expected.

Conclusions

Our data indicate no association between paternal DMD exposure at time of conception
and risk of spontaneous abortion, adverse fetal outcomes and congenital malformations.
Further studies clarifying the role of DMD fathers intake prior and during pregnancy
are desirable, to supply guidelines for clinical practice.